FRANKENLUST TWP. — Sgt. Kristopher J. Gould, the Bay County soldier who died Feb. 27 in Afghanistan after an attack, worked critical traffic control point operations to restrict Taliban movement during his time in the Middle East.

Gould, 25, of Frankenlust Township, died in the Ghazni province of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.

According to a 2009 release from the U.S. Department of Defense, Gould's unit would perform traffic control point operations to also reduce the number of bombs placed in southern Afghanistan. During those operations, U.S. soldiers and Afghan National Police searched more than 60 cars traveling through Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.

Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment performed about a dozen snap TCP missions a month, according to the release.

“If we change it up, keep it random, it keeps [militants] on their toes,” said Gould, in the release. “It gets them scared.”

Gould is a 2004 graduate of Valley Lutheran High School in Saginaw Township.

Gould deployed previously to Afghanistan as part of the 22nd Infantry. He also served in Iraq as part of the Michigan Army National Guard in 2005, according to Times archives.